What I’m about to share with you took me years to learn! And I’m still learning it. What am I talking about? I’m talking about something that will revolutionize your playing. I’m talking about being present at the piano while you’re playing!

See. I told you it was simple. Simple to say but not so simple to do.

Let me tell you how I approach this. Some time ago, I sat down at my piano to work on some pieces for a new CD project. I’d completed the first sections on many of these pieces but the rest of the music just wouldn’t come.

I can’t begin to tell you how frustrating this was (and sometimes still is) for me!

Anyway, I decided to take a walk and figure out what the problem was. I started walking and unwinding and then it hit me… the reason nothing was coming was because of my own expectations. You see, I wanted to complete the pieces I’d been working on so badly that I was creating an atmosphere of anxiety. The joy of making music was gone. It was replaced for the need to create a product. And once this need appears - any progress is sure to be halted. Why?

Because the ego is never satisfied and wants something that is in direct opposition to artistic expression.

Now I have a different approach. I tell myself that my job is to just show up at the piano. To be present with the music. If new material comes, then fine. If not, that’s OK too. Just as long as I show up and remain present to the process.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

When most people look at a piano keyboard, they see a sea of black and white keys. They can’t understand how someone can sit down at this confusing combination of notes and create music.

Of course they can’t! They haven’t learned how to look at the piano keyboard in such a way that it all makes sense. All they really need to do is understand how to see it like the pros do. And pros see the piano keyboard as scales and chords.

All you really need to know to start out is to learn chords and that’s it. Just think of the guitar player as an analogy. They begin to make sense of their instrument rather quickly. Why? Because they are taught chords from the beginning. They learn to play the 3 most important chords in any Key right away and begin to make music. They begin to look at the fretboard as more advanced player’s do - as a way to produce music through chords.

They then learn how to finger a scale and the guitar fretboard no longer seems a mystery but an acoustic terrain to be mastered.

The same principles apply to the piano. Once you have a few chords under your belt and can play the scale (much simpler for pianists than guitarists) you will begin to see the piano keyboard in a new way.

For example, I’m a big fan of something called the open position chord. It covers more than two octaves of the piano keyboard and gives the beginning player a modern sound right away. Once students begin playing it, they soon discover that they can quickly make music just like their guitar playing counterparts!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!